Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data
On Wed, 2003-02-12 at 22:21, Don Armstrong wrote: What is the currently recommended method for adding a linking exception (say with OpenSSL) to a program licensed under the GPL? http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WritingFSWithNFLibs Scroll down a little to the line reading: In addition, as a special exception, name of copyright signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part
Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data
tor 2003-02-13 klockan 04.21 skrev Don Armstrong: [Mikael, I'm sending this query both to you and -legal, and setting the Mail-Followup-To: on the assumption that you're not subscribed to -legal as well. Please correct me if I have assumed incorrectly.] That's correct. What is the currently recommended method for adding a linking exception (say with OpenSSL) to a program licensed under the GPL? I tried to find an example in the archives of a proper application of an exception, however, I was unable to find it. [References to applicable discussions appreciated.] Specifically, altering the GPL itself to add the exception seems to clearly violate the copyright statement (underlined below) of the GPL itself. I would gather that an addition to the copyright statement with the stipulation given in multisync's 2(d) would be acceptable, but I'm not aware of the precedence in cases like this. What I sent to Upstream (Bo Lincoln) was the following urls: http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.cgi#LEGAL2 http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2002/debian-legal-200212/msg00192.html And then he added it in 2d. He was very understanding, so if we want the phrase moved, I think that it's ok, but I think it's good if we could send him a sample och a license file. Lintian doesn't understand that it's not a plain GPL liccense, and give some warnings. Sincerely Mikael -- Mikael Andersson [EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP: 1024D/20E93E8E 76F9 E895 1073 12B8 A281 8144 5A1E 4BDD 20E9 3E8E
Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data
This is not legal advice, I am not a lawyer. On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Anthony DeRobertis wrote: On Wed, 2003-02-12 at 22:21, Don Armstrong wrote: What is the currently recommended method for adding a linking exception (say with OpenSSL) to a program licensed under the GPL? http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WritingFSWithNFLibs Mikael, if you could get Bo to change his copyright statement to this, [as recommended in the link Anthony provided] that should clear up the licensing issue, without having to modify the GPL. [And it would avoid having lintian complain...] Copyright (C) 2002 Bo Lincoln [EMAIL PROTECTED] This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA In addition, as a special exception, Bo Lincoln gives permission to link the code of this program with the OpenSSL library (or with modified versions of OpenSSL that use the same license as OpenSSL), and distribute linked combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version. END Don Armstrong -- Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n'y a plus rien a ajouter, mais quand il n'y a plus rien a retrancher. (Perfection is apparently not achieved when nothing more can be added, but when nothing else can be removed.) -- Antoine de Saint-Exupe'ry, Terres des Hommes http://www.donarmstrong.com http://www.anylevel.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu pgp5hrS6bFrqH.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data
tor 2003-02-13 klockan 18.24 skrev Don Armstrong: This is not legal advice, I am not a lawyer. On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Anthony DeRobertis wrote: On Wed, 2003-02-12 at 22:21, Don Armstrong wrote: What is the currently recommended method for adding a linking exception (say with OpenSSL) to a program licensed under the GPL? http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WritingFSWithNFLibs Mikael, if you could get Bo to change his copyright statement to this, [as recommended in the link Anthony provided] that should clear up the licensing issue, without having to modify the GPL. [And it would avoid having lintian complain...] Yes, I send him the link, and now he have changed to: MultiSync - A PIM data synchronization program Copyright (C) 2002-2003 Bo Lincoln [EMAIL PROTECTED] This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation; THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER(S) AND AUTHOR(S) BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. ALL LIABILITY, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS, RELATING TO USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS DISCLAIMED. In addition, as a special exception, Bo Lincoln [EMAIL PROTECTED] gives permission to link the code of this program with the OpenSSL library (or with modified versions of OpenSSL that use the same license as OpenSSL), and distribute linked combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version. - GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991 ... Yes, I know that it's not exactly the same text :-) But I think that it's ok, at least for now, I doesn't want him to change the license text 3 times in 3 days. Sincerely Mikael Copyright (C) 2002 Bo Lincoln [EMAIL PROTECTED] This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA In addition, as a special exception, Bo Lincoln gives permission to link the code of this program with the OpenSSL library (or with modified versions of OpenSSL that use the same license as OpenSSL), and distribute linked combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version. END Don Armstrong -- Mikael Andersson [EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP: 1024D/20E93E8E 76F9 E895 1073 12B8 A281 8144 5A1E 4BDD 20E9 3E8E
Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data
Scripsit Don Armstrong [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mikael, if you could get Bo to change his copyright statement to this, In addition, as a special exception, Bo Lincoln gives permission to link the code of this program with the OpenSSL library (or with [blah blah] Just a random thought: There used to be an informal rule saying, never write a false statement on the blackboard. Some student is bound to mindlessly copy it down and take it for truth. I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to apply this to license statements too: Never write an example statement saying that such-and-such software is under such-and-such license without mildly obfuscating the name of the program and its author. I mean, often the only evidence we have that a certain program is under a certain license is that there exists, somewhere, a plain ascii text file claiming so. Sometimes licenses have to be dug up by google searches and similar less-than-trustworthy techniques because the upstream author's own download page happily ignores the legal nitty-gritty. In such case it could have potentially troubleful to have real-life license statements floating aroung, and probably quoted out of context by people who are not careful with relating the full context of the quote. Major legal disasters *might* result if such a dummy were, by accident, to be interpreted as the real thing. Let's not write dummies for which this is possible. -- Henning Makholm The compile-time type checker for this language has proved to be a valuable filter which traps a significant proportion of programming errors.
(False) License Statements [Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data]
On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Henning Makholm wrote: In such case it could have potentially troubleful to have real-life license statements floating aroung, and probably quoted out of context by people who are not careful with relating the full context of the quote. Quotes taken out of context are often dangerous. Major legal disasters *might* result if such a dummy were, by accident, to be interpreted as the real thing. If someone failed to do the research behind their software's license, there's little that can be done to avert a legal disaster. Google searches are not a replacement for talking with upstream and confirming the license and or copyright of a project. Let's not write dummies for which this is possible. The idea behind writing this clause was so that the maintainer would be able to copy it out and send it upstream, verbatim, for approval. While I agree that one should make the context as clear as possible, I don't believe obfuscating what is being discussed is necessarily the proper way to go about ensuring that the context is made clear, especially if it inhibits the discussion that is ocurring. [And now, looking at my randomly chosen signature, I wonder if someone is going to accuse me of being a murderer someday.] Don Armstrong -- Guns Don't Kill People. *I* Kill People. http://www.donarmstrong.com http://www.anylevel.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu pgpLT6k3Acy4H.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: (False) License Statements [Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data]
Scripsit Don Armstrong [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Henning Makholm wrote: In such case it could have potentially troubleful to have real-life license statements floating aroung, and probably quoted out of context by people who are not careful with relating the full context of the quote. Quotes taken out of context are often dangerous. Yes, and because people *will* take quotes out of context, I suggest trying to make them less dangerous as far as it can be done with simple means. I don't believe obfuscating what is being discussed is necessarily the proper way to go about ensuring that the context is made clear, especially if it inhibits the discussion that is ocurring. The word obfuscating was to be taken somewhat lightly. I don't think that replaing the author's name with NN and the program's name with The Program would inhibit the discussion notheworthily. Please note that I'm not trying to criticise you personally for not having obfuscated (or whatever) your example statement, even though it happened to be your message that prompted me to raise the issue. -- Henning Makholm Det må være spændende at bo på en kugle. Har I nogen sinde besøgt de egne, hvor folk går rundt med hovedet nedad?
Re: copyright from Koynacity Blue theme
On Thursday 13 February 2003 07:03, Josselin Mouette wrote: The Koynacity blue theme (which is part of the spheres-and-crystals bundle) includes the following statement : You are fully authorized to use, modify, and redistribute this theme. If you are planning to make a color variation of this theme theme, please name the package Koynacity [color of variation]. This will make it easy for users to manage their themes. I think it implicitly allows redistribution of modified versions, but I'm not sure it's clear enough. Should I ask the author some clarification ? Regards, Sounds good enough.
